Ever since the four-term phenomenon of Franklin D. Roosevelt, two
very different factions have wrestled for control of the
Republican Party. On the one hand are the grassroots
Republicans, Main Street Americans, who labor in the precincts to
elect candidates they hope will be faithful after election.

On the other hand are the powerful people who fancy themselves as
kingmakers, the wheelers and dealers of the proverbial smoke-
filled rooms, also known as the New York or Wall Street or
eastern liberal establishment. They include the multinational
corporations (whose most recent accomplishment was the Mexican
bailout) and the Business Roundtable types, whose fingers of
control slither through what is called the media elite.

These kingmakers are Big Government Republicans. They seek to
maintain the current high level of federal spending, and they
want to control how the money is spent. They are liberals, but
their favorite word to identify themselves is "moderate."

In 1940 the New York kingmakers created the 60-day wonder named
Wendell Willkie. He was a registered Democrat, but the
kingmakers manufactured a new image for him through a media blitz
and made him the Republican nominee for President.

In 1944 and 1948, the kingmakers forced the Republican Party to
nominate the man who brought the expression "me too" into the
political lexicon. Voters opted for the real Democrat in 1944
and 1948, not the carbon copy.

In 1952 the New York kingmakers felt threatened by the rise of
the conservative movement led by Senator Bob Taft. The issue was
clear: Taft had pledged to reduce the level of federal spending
significantly, so the liberal Republicans set out to defeat him
at all costs. By the narrowest of margins, the New York
kingmakers stole the 1952 Republican National Convention for a
military hero, Dwight Eisenhower.

During Ike's two terms, the liberals initiated all kinds of big
federal spending programs that have plagued us ever since, such
as federal aid to education. It was no surprise that Republican
seats in Congress steadily declined.

In 1964, the New York kingmakers tried to force Republicans to
nominate Nelson Rockefeller, a Big Government, internationalist
Republican Governor who raised taxes, engaged in profligate
spending of the taxpayers' money, and me-tooed the liberal
Democratic policies. They failed; grassroots conservatives
asserted their majority position in the Republican Party by
nominating Barry Goldwater and repudiating Rockefeller
Republicanism.

The Rockefeller cabal then cooperated with the media moguls in a
campaign to defeat Goldwater that was marked by unprecedented
hysteria and vicious smears. The result was Lyndon B. Johnson
and the exponential expansion of Big Government under the Great
Society.

In the following years, conservatives were cowed by a constant
refrain. "You conservatives had your chance with Barry
Goldwater. His defeat proves America will never elect a
conservative, so the best you can hope for is Richard Nixon."

The Nixon regime proved that conservatives are fools to accept
half a loaf. In foreign policy, his appointee Henry Kissinger
continued the disastrous McNamara policies of abandoning our
strategic superiority to the Soviets. In domestic policy, Nixon
admitted he was a Keynesian and even inflicted price controls on
us.

In 1976 the fainthearted persuaded a scant majority of
Republicans to stick with the "moderate," Gerald Ford. However,
even that "moderate" Republican National Convention was unwilling
to take Rockefeller as Ford's running mate.

Finally, in 1980, Ronald Reagan mainstreamed conservatism as the
vision and the values of Middle America. He drew conservative
and pro-family Democrats and independents into the Republican
Party.

Reagan's vision of conservatism consists of four specific
elements: limited government with lower taxes; personal
responsibility with a disdain for taxpayer handouts for personal
or social causes; military superiority so our armed forces can
protect our independence (specifically including SDI); and
respect for life and family values.

Each of these four elements of Reagan's conservatism has a large
constituency among the American people. The coalition produced
the greatest Presidency and the biggest Republican victories of
our times. This Reagan coalition is the model for the future of
the Republican Party, and casting off any of them would spell
defeat for Republicans.

It is a puzzlement why Colin Powell identified himself as a
"Rockefeller Republican," when Nelson Rockefeller was the
quintessential representative of the eastern liberal
establishment. To the grassroots conservatives who are now the
dominant majority in the Republican Party, Rockefeller
Republicanism means "in your face" Big Government liberalism.

To nominate a Rockefeller Republican in 1996 would be turning the
clock back to 1964 when that crowd lost the watershed battle
between grassroots conservatives vs. the establishment. It would
be as foolish as refighting the Civil Rights Act, the other
defining battle of 1964.

The Reagan model teaches us that authentic conservatism is the
road to victory. Conservative Republicans don't have to settle
for a me-tooer or a liberal or a "moderate" masquerading as a
conservative because conservatives have the votes to demand the
real thing.

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